


Post-Mortem Insomnia

by Kiraly



Series: Dreamworld Ladies [3]
Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: Afterlife, Dreams, Dreamworld, F/F, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-11-23 02:18:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11393322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiraly/pseuds/Kiraly
Summary: Tuonela is a realm of eternal slumber...for most people. Ensi seems to be an exception. It's also supposed to be a place that living souls can't visit, but Rúna seems to be an exception, too.





	Post-Mortem Insomnia

**Author's Note:**

> Another adventure of Ensi Hotakainen and Rúna Snorradóttir, my take on the author of the info pages. I got inspired by [this conversation](http://minutia-r.tumblr.com/post/162550121425/worldsentwined-minutia-r-ilral-said-i) with Minutia-r, and somehow it turned into a fic. Apparently my way of processing current comic events is to take the [most recent info page](http://sssscomic.com/comic.php?page=751) and use it to write afterlife shenanigans with characters who are dead (probably) before the main comic even starts. I dunno, grief works in mysterious ways.

“I  _thought_ you looked familiar!”

Ensi’s eyelids flutter. She’d been having a dream, one of those non-magical dreams that feels endless, and she’s not quite sure she’s ready to leave it yet. It’s odd, though–it feels like she’s done this before, half-waking and deciding it’s better to sleep. That’s not like her, is it? She used to wake instantly, back when she was–

_Oh._

Awareness takes her more fully, even as every sense screams  _wrong wrong wrong_. She shouldn’t be waking up, not here. Tuonela is a place for sleep; the dead come here to rest. And Ensi is one of them.

But something is off. This hasn’t been the peaceful sleep she was promised. She’s stirred before, when some remnant of her mind caught the passage of power. It’s her own fault, probably. The past has a way of catching up. She’d known that man in the forest was more than a scout, even before she felt his energy sizzling through her–and, nine months later, through her sons. She was never the same after that, but she hadn’t been different enough to let it trouble her. A hint of extra magic, the sense that the gods bent their ear more readily: the signs of favor had been a boon, mostly. But it seems she’s paying the price for them in death.

“Ensi? Can you wake up?”

The person talking to her isn’t Ukko-Pekka, though. This is a woman’s voice, and one not laced with divinity. One she recognizes.

Ensi opens her eyes. “Rúna. What the hell are  _you_ doing here?”

The woman kneeling beside her is far too lively to be another of Tuonela’s dead. More importantly, she shouldn’t be here at all, because she’s Icelandic, not Finnish. Her own gods should claim her, whisk her off to Valhalla or Hel or wherever it is they take nosy researchers with no sense of self-preservation. Plus, it kind of looks like she’s…still alive. That shouldn’t be possible.

Rúna, of course, seems blissfully unaware of her own implausibility. “Oh, you know how I am! I’m always traveling around. Right now I’m doing research on the Finnish underworld for my new book, isn’t that exciting?”

“For your new…what?” Ensi is not awake enough for this. Or too awake. “How did you even get here?” No one is supposed to be able to get into Tuonela, other than dead Finns. They’d have to get past the Swan, past the daughter of Tuoni and all the nasty surprises in the water itself. Even Ensi wouldn’t have tried it when she was alive.

But Rúna waves the question away like it’s nothing. “I walked. You know how it is in the dream world, distance doesn’t seem to work the same way. It’s funny, though–I’ve been looking for this place for a long time, but never been able to find it until tonight. It was like there was a path leading straight here.” She taps her chin and leans closer, so the long strands of her hair fall in a curtain around Ensi’s face. “How is it that you’re awake in here, anyway? Everyone else is sleeping.”

“I  _was_ asleep until you showed up,” Ensi grumbles. But she’s wondering the same thing, and still unsatisfied with Rúna’s answers. She shouldn’t be here, just like Ensi shouldn’t be awake. Then again, the two of them have a long history of doing things they shouldn’t and getting away with it. Rúna has a particular affinity for ending up in places she isn’t supposed to be, so why would Tuonela be any different? She probably walked across the water and chattered her way past the guards. So Ensi decides to tell her the truth.

“I fucked a god,” Ensi says. She doesn’t bother to soften the blow; Rúna knows about Ensi’s children, and those don’t happen by magic…usually. And for all that they’ve been meeting on and off for years, they’ve never been more than casual lovers. “A man I met in the forest, with lightning under his skin. I wasn’t sure at the time, of course. But I wasn’t exactly thinking clearly. You know how it goes.” 

 Rúna nods; she knows better than anyone. The world is strange, and mages encounter the strangest parts. “So that’s how…the twins?”

“Yeah. So I have a feeling that has something to do with it. I have a hard time staying asleep, these days.”

“No rest for the…weary,” Rúna says. Ensi glares, but lets the comment pass. Rúna continues. “Anyway, since you’re awake, and I’m here…can you show me around? I’m afraid I can’t pay you–” and old joke, left over from their first fateful meeting all those years ago “–but I’ll be sure to credit you in my book.”

“Sure,” Ensi says, getting to her feet. Her “body” is the same age as it was when she died, but all the little aches and pains are gone. She feels well-rested, for once. And Rúna’s thirst for adventure never fails to lure her in. “A walking tour of Tuonela, as guided by a dead Finnish mage with nothing better to do.” That’d make a nice chapter heading, assuming this actually makes it into the book; who knows if she’ll remember all of this when she wakes up. Ensi eyes Rúna and frowns as an unpleasant thought occurs to her.  _If_ she wakes up.

If Ensi’s suspicion is right, Rúna shows no sign of it. “Excellent! It’s always good to have anecdotes from a local.” She pulls out paper and a pen–how she manages to have those on her even in dreams, Ensi has never understood–and prepares to take notes. “Lead the way.” 

Ensi links arms with Rúna and sets out. She’s certain this isn’t how she’s supposed to be spending her afterlife. But if she has to suffer from post-mortem insomnia, it’s nice to have some company.

* * *

_Beyond the Bird’s Path, the great summer and the frozen rapids lies a realm of eternal slumber. Tuonela, Manala, the final resting place of all Finns._

_It is a place few living souls have visited, and fewer departed souls have returned from, guarded by the Swan of Tuonela and the kin of Tuoni._

_It is an abode of quiet. Mostly._

-Excerpt from  _The Finns: Their Magic, Beliefs, and Afterlife_ by Rúna Snorradóttir

Editor’s Note: This is believed to be the author’s final entry, found on her desk after she passed away in her sleep. Some critics doubt the credibility of her source, as she attributed it to one “Ensi Hotakainen”. From all accounts, Ensi Hotakainen was a Finnish mage of some ability who predeceased the author by several years.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh! And I decided to make a dedicated series for my Rúna stories. I have another one on Tumblr somewhere, I'll try to track it down and upload it here soon.


End file.
